KUALA LUMPUR, 29 Jan 2009: About 30 members of the Youth and Putera wings of Umno tonight handed a memorandum of protest to the party leadership on the intervention by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in party matters.

In the memorandum, the members also protested against the proposal by the chairperson of the Umno Diciplinary Board, Tan Sri Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen Tengku Ismail that the party’s wings be dissolved to curb money politics.

The memorandum was handed to Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and members of the supreme council (MT) before they began their MT meeting at the Umno headquarters, here.

A spokesperson for the group, Zuraidi Abdul Rahim said the establishment of the MACC had resulted in more party members being detained on corruption charges and members of the commission frequently adopted harsh tactics when questioning suspects.

“The formation of the MACC is not to beat suspects when questioning them. Thirty-nine people have been called up for questioning, the number of those remanded is uncertain but two or three people have lodged police reports.

“We have proof of the incidents through a copy of the police report lodged by a party member that is attached to the memorandum,” he told reporters at the Menara Tun Hussein Onn lobby here.

The police report dated 28 Jan, lodged at the Damansara police station by an Umno member from Pahang, claimed that he was beaten on the head, kicked on the ribs by an officer, and was forced to strip and roll over on the floor.

Zuraidi said he represented about 2,500 party members throughout the country who hoped there would be no intervention by outsiders especially from the MACC on party matters so that the freedom of expression by party members could be revived.

Earlier, they had gathered at the lobby to express their protest against the suggestion by Tengku Ahmad Rithauddeen and the establishment of the MACC. — Bernama